


Twisted Time

by fleckphantasma



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Future, Danger, Drama, F/M, Family, Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, Love, Romance, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-08-24
Updated: 2015-09-29
Packaged: 2018-02-14 11:04:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 19,338
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2189289
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fleckphantasma/pseuds/fleckphantasma
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When the world that they know begins to unravel before their eyes, nobody doubts that something has happened. What starts with one brave soul quickly escalates to two and then three as they return to the past and seek to stop their history from being undone, facing countless dangers and obstacles along the way. But are they too late? Or can they save everyone they love in time?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Departure

> **The Departure**
> 
> _Clothes...her broomstick...the map..._
> 
> The list she had created in her head felt almost endless as she scurried around her bedroom, collecting things from various places before putting everything into the knapsack at the foot of the bed. Part of her worried that she might perhaps forget something of importance, but she didn't dare write anything down. The last thing she needed was for someone to find that list and question her reasons for writing it, something that could expose her entire plan before she had a chance to put it into action. Her parents would not approve of her pending journey, nor would her brothers or anyone else. They would all claim that it was far too dangerous for an underaged witch, that she couldn't possibly know where to begin in terms of setting things to rights. But she was determined that something needed to be done before anything else changed on them unexpectedly or more people vanished without a trace.
> 
> The unexplained disappearances of several people in the past year had lead her to believe that there was something far more sinister at work than pure chance and coincidence. Her family was beginning to take notice of what was happening; her cousin in a panic as she struggled to keep her mother's spirits up after her father had vanished, struggling to keep her uncle sane in the process. Nobody could make sense of these events or even begin to think of where they might look for those who had gone, but she was determined to solve the mystery on her own. She had done her research, read all of the books she could get her hands on...and that's where the changes were the most noticeable. Passages and dates had been altered. The very history that she had been brought up on was somehow different this time from when her eyes had first fallen on the pages back at school. And it couldn't be ignored any longer.
> 
> Crossing the room yet again, her fingers reached forward to grab the little red book that she had left lying on her desk, the edges of the pages shimmering in a gold accent that proudly showed her roots to anyone who cared to look. This would do, she decided, if she had an opportunity to plan things out over the course of her trip. And what a perfect idea - using the gift that her father had given her for such a task. He wouldn't necessarily be proud of her right now for what she was about to do, but perhaps in time, she thought, he might come to understand why she had done it. If she made it back alive...
> 
> She paused for a moment by the edge of the desk before she looked down at the drawer that sat just to the right, wondering if perhaps she should check it again. There was no way that it had moved since she had last looked, and yet a voice in the back of her mind said that it was vital for her to continue checking to ensure that she wasn't going to forget where she had stored that crucial bit of parchment. If her first plan didn't work then she would need to rely on this as her way of getting back there, knowing even that was not a guarantee. Despite her best efforts at research there was not much information about what she hoped to accomplish, and what little she did know had come from other means. But those didn't exist anymore she'd been told. The Ministry of Magic had made sure that they were all destroyed years ago in order to prevent this exact thing from happening in case someone on the wrong side should get their hands on one and try to turn the tides of the war in favour of the darkness. Granted, that was not at all her intention, but she knew that she was incredibly fortunate to have found this one at all. Still, she felt the urge to open the desk drawer and check to make sure the parchment was where she had left it, prompting the girl to touch the handle of the drawer before she heard a noise that immediately caused her to pull her fingers away again.
> 
> Her head snapped around as she heard her bedroom door hit the wall behind it, the entrance now taken up by two bodies that looked at her with serious expressions rather unlike them. "I told you she was planning something," the younger boy said accusingly as he stormed inside, his dark eyes travelling over the room as he took note of the things that had been removed from their usual places, such as the knapsack that now sat at the foot of her bed. "See, I told you!"
> 
> His blonde companion merely shook her head in disbelief, running her fingers through her straight locks before she walked inside the room as well. "Are you insane?" she demanded of her friend as she placed both hands on her hips. "We don't know the first thing of what's going on and you're already packing like you've got somewhere important to be."
> 
> The only response they immediately got was the roll of her eyes as she moved about the room and continued to gather a few things, each one being placed carefully into the knapsack before she dared to look them both in the eye. They weren't supposed to figure out what she was up to despite the closeness of their relationship. She knew that if anyone found out what she was planning they might try to talk her out of it, but they might also try their hardest to accompany her, and that was out of the question entirely.
> 
> "I can't just let this go," she told them, retreating to the dresser to grab another pair of socks in an effort to keep herself moving. "Things are happening that shouldn't be happening. People are disappearing, history is being changed, memories are fading...if this keeps up then I don't know what that's going to mean for us."
> 
> The younger boy frowned heavily as he watched her movements, knowing immediately that she was hiding something. "Leave it to Dad and the others," he insisted quickly. "They're already looking into the disappearances, and you know that he doesn't really care about what the history books say."
> 
> But the girl stopped and shook her head at once, looking back at him with a darker look than was normal for her. "You don't understand. It's being changed completely, as if parts of it never happened at all. I have to figure out what's going on. I'm going."
> 
> She could tell that an argument was just looming in the air around them when they looked at her, neither of them looking overly impressed by her stubborn declaration. And yet they both knew that it would take a rather sophisticated way of getting where she wanted to go, if it was even possible. People didn't just hop through time and space as if it were no big deal, moving from one generation and back to another in order to figure out what had happened to deal with their twisted time.
> 
> "And no, neither of you can come."
> 
> This answer did nothing to satisfy the already angered boy who looked at her with such a heavy glare, trying his hardest to win the staring contest between the two of them. "You're underage," he reminded her with a small smirk of amusement, believing he might win their battle after all. "You don't know enough to deal with the real world yet, no matter how smart you think you are."
> 
> Her jaw tightened a little when he spoke, her eyes burning with anger before she finally pulled herself away, lest she risk losing her temper and reaching out to strike him. "You're not coming with me, and that's the end of this conversation."
> 
> The smirk was instantly erased from his face and replaced with a stunned expression, realizing that his plan had not worked out the way he had wanted. Insults were not going to stop her from doing anything dangerous, and now she was denying him any kind of involvement in the adventure. Hurt and angry at being treated in such a manner, the boy turned on his heel and immediately dashed out the door, thundering down the stairs before either girl could call out to stop him.
> 
> "Now you've done it," muttered the blonde, turning back to her friend with a disapproving look. "And don't think I haven't noticed the changes you've made, either."
> 
> The other girl simply shrugged, closing up her knapsack and letting it fall against the sheets of the bed with a soft thunk. "It's too dangerous for him," she said abruptly, her dark curls falling around her face as she reached around to remove the elastic from her hair and shake it out slightly. " _I_ don't even know what to expect. I can't be worrying about him while I'm trying to get around and stay alive myself."
> 
> Despite the excuses that she was making for wanting to make this journey alone, the blonde could hear something else in her friend's tone of voice. There was normally a lightness to her manner of speaking, a bit of laughter that they would often share in happier moments together as they moved about the castle corridors or lounged in the common room before the fire. But in a single moment she had come to realize those moments were long behind them that it was time to move onto another point in their lives - a point she knew couldn't be traveled alone no matter how much she insisted on it.
> 
> "I'm coming with you."
> 
> The brunette laughed to herself as she looked over at her friends, crossing her arms over her chest with a hip cocked to one side. "Did you not just hear me? I can't let anyone else come with me. It's way too dangerous."
> 
> "Exactly," hurried the blonde, forcing her mind into overdrive so that she could create enough reasons for herself to go along. "But we're the same age, we know the same things. I would be of far greater help than anyone else, and I know that you trust me enough to let me go. Please..."
> 
> She thought her best friend was absolutely crazy for wanting anything to do with her after discovering her plan, and the brunette was more than happy to tell her so. She opened her mouth to speak, but stopped when she heard noises coming from the floor below them, noises that were steadily growing louder. Footsteps could be heard on the bottom of the steps as someone called her name, the deep rumbling voice that she knew all too well leading the way. _Damn him_ , she thought.
> 
> He'd told them.
> 
> "I have to go now, before they stop me." Her hands reached out to grab her bag and throw it around her shoulder before she plunged a hand into the depths of her shirt collar, removing the chain from its hiding place and beginning to fumble with the tiny decoration that hung from the bottom.
> 
> "I've got my things already," grinned the blonde, patting the side pocket of her jeans confidently before she stepped forward and slipped beneath the chain herself. "Are you sure this thing is going to work?"
> 
> The brunette shook her head impatiently as she started turning it, her eyes focused on the task at hand while the other girl looked toward the door and the approaching sounds of others. If they were caught now, there was no possible way that they would ever be able to journey back and figure out what was happening. They'd be forced to remain where they were, watching as things continued to change around them, helpless to prevent anything further from occurring. That couldn't be allowed to happen. And all she had to rely on right now was an old device that she had managed to find by pure accident. A device she had been working to fix for the past year. Now was the time for the ultimate test, where both girls were praying all of the work that went into repairing it would pay off in time to spare them from being reprimanded harshly for their actions.
> 
> The room began to spin about them, things moving and adjusting rather slowly before all at once there was a whirlwind of colours and sounds. Frightened of what was actually occurring, the blonde jumped just as they were both swept off of their feet and brought into the spiral that time had created for their transportation. Before they could be ripped apart, they latched their hands together and held on for dear life, hoping they would end up where they meant to. But considering the way in which they had suddenly chosen to leave, they really couldn't be sure of anything. All they could do was ride out the time travel and hope that nothing bad happened when they arrived, for neither of them knew what to expect on the other side.


	2. The Arrival

> The force of the door slamming behind him as he entered his bedroom was enough to shake the walls and rattle the pane of glass in the window as he stormed angrily about, no longer caring how much noise he made. It wouldn't matter anyway, he thought bitterly to himself as he flopped on the bed and buried his face deep in his pillow. Ever since he had left Hogwarts at the end of June, Harry James Potter had felt completely and utterly alone, almost as if he had ceased to exist the moment he disembarked the Hogwarts Express. The Dursley's had practically ignored his existence since he had come back at the end of the school year, a drastic change from previous years when they had taken full advantage of the fact that he had been an underage wizard who was not permitted to use magic outside of school. No longer did they demand that he trim the hedges or go out and water the flower beds. They had spoken to him only to ask the date of their departure from the house, looking nervous and stiff whenever he was in the same room as them for longer than a second. His cousin Dudley had taken to jumping from his seat and hurrying from the room now, making it impossible for the two of them to have a conversation, not that he had ever had a reason to try and carry one with Dudley. And to make matters even worse, the fear of intercepted letters had made it absolutely impossible for him to contact his friends while he sat around on Privet Drive waiting to be taken away to the Burrow.
> 
> The Burrow...
> 
> Just the thought of that place was enough to give Harry a small sense of hope, something he had dearly missed for quite some time now. He had been told that Alastor Moody would be arriving on his birthday to take him there by Side-Along Apparation – they had arranged for the Burrow to become a safe-house of sorts while living under the impending threat of Voldemort's return. It meant he would finally be able to see Ron and Hermione again after nearly a month of being cut off from them and they would be able to share their plans freely so long as none of the others caught on to what they were doing. And Ginny, he added as his stomach gave a small lurch. Despite the fact that he had broken off their relationship after Dumbledore's death in order to keep her safe, he was rather anxious to see her again. He hadn't wanted to let her go after having only just started their relationship, but he decided it had been for the best. Being together meant that his enemies would have someone else to use against him if they found out of his affections for the Weasley girl. Harry could not live with himself if he knew that his love had put Ginny in any kind of immediate danger. She meant far too much to him for that.
> 
> Sighing softly, he turned his head out of his pillow and cast his emerald gaze on the alarm clock that sat on the bedside table, the bright red numbers of the screen gleaming in the semi-darkness of the room. Eight fifty-four. The early hour made him groan in frustration as he remembered that there was still another two days before he was scheduled to leave and he had nothing else for him to do in order to pass the time. His things had been packed for almost a week now with the exception of Hedwig whom he allowed outside at night in order to hunt and feed herself. Fingers reached out and tentatively picked up the broken shard of mirror that he had placed beside the bed, foolishly hoping yet again that he might catch a glimpse of someone familiar in the other side. For days now he had been watching it to see if the face would appear again. He first hoped to see the face of his godfather keeping an eye on him from somewhere beyond the grave. Instead he had found himself looking into a piercing blue eye - one that had startled him and caused him to drop the shard the first time it had appeared. But as soon as he had scrambled to pick it up again he saw nothing more than part of his own reflection. It had merely been a trick of the light, he had told himself. Or maybe it was a part of his brain desperately hoping that he was seeing the old headmaster alive and well after witnessing his death a month prior.
> 
> It was all just foolish thoughts though. Dumbledore was not alive, nor was Sirius. And if he continued to stare at the mirror the way that he was now, he was sure that he would lose his mind entirely. Setting it back down quickly, Harry pushed himself up onto his elbow and pinched the bridge of his nose beneath his glasses, rubbing it gingerly with his thumb and forefinger before he removed his glasses from his face and placed them next to the alarm clock. With nothing better to do he collapsed back onto the mattress, allowing his weariness from the day to overtake him and slowly lull him into a restful sleep.
> 
> \- - - - - - - - - -
> 
> _BANG!_
> 
> Harry woke with a start as he heard a crash at the foot of his bed, his heart pounding wildly in his chest as he jammed his glasses back onto his face and turned the desk lamp on with frustrated and fumbling fingers, wand now drawn. He looked around the room for the source of the noise, praying that it had been his imagination - but a muffled groan told him otherwise. Stepping cautiously off the side of the mattress he crossed to the other side of the room, his eyes locked on the two bodies that he saw laying in a tangled heap on the hardwood flooring of his bedroom. Neither of them had yet taken any notice of the fact that they were not alone in the room, nor of anything else it seemed. But he certainly noticed them.
> 
> Both were female: one a blonde and the other a brunette. The blonde had landed on top of the other girl and now held a hand to her head as she muttered words under her breath that Harry could not make out. She wore a pair of jeans accompanied by a pink and white t-shirt that didn't quite cover all of the skin around her middle. Even from where he stood, Harry could see that she wasn't an overly tall girl, standing maybe five feet five inches, and that she looked to be about fifteen or sixteen years old at most.
> 
> "Nice going," she mumbled. "We landed on a wooden floor."
> 
> But her companion was having none of it. "Quit your whining, Kyra," she retorted quickly as she struggled to move beneath her. "If you hadn't jumped when we left the house then we'd have landed on our feet. And you're the one who landed on top, so don't you dare complain."
> 
> The two hurried to untangle themselves and get up off of the floor, the blonde reaching down to gather up a knapsack that had arrived with them when the brunette caught sight of Harry and froze in a slightly defensive stance. Her eyes widened in terror when she saw him, taking note of the wand that he still had pointed in their direction, jabbing her friend in the ribs when she did not take immediate notice as well.
> 
> "Why don't you attack?" the blonde asked him slowly as she adjusted herself to stand upright. "How do you know we're not here to kill you for Voldemort?"
> 
> The brunette jabbed her again, earning a reproachful look. "Don't encourage him."
> 
> Harry was rather taken aback by the question that poured from her lips, but even more so by her ability to use Voldemort's name without a trace of fear or discomfort. Aside from Dumbledore he had never known anyone else to use that name willingly, and considering their current situation, the name would send almost anyone into a petrified state of terror. He noted that neither of them seemed to be affected as he looked between the two of them. And a cursory examination lead him to believe that neither of them actually posed a threat to him, so why didn't he attack? Well, firstly because they couldn't have been any older than he was, which meant that they were probably just as limited in their knowledge of magic. And since neither of them was Hermione he felt fairly confident that they wouldn't be pulling some unknown spell out of their back pocket without wands in their hands.
> 
> "Deatheaters wouldn't send girls my own age to kill me," he said carefully as he lowered his wand just a little. "You didn't exactly make a quiet entrance, you don't have your wands and, well...no offense, but neither of you look all that intimidating to me."
> 
> "You better not be saying that just because we're girls," the blonde said as she wrinkled her nose. "Not that you should be concerned about us anyway. We're here to help," she proudly declared to him.
> 
> "Kyra-"
> 
> "We're from the future!"
> 
> A groan sounded from the brunette as she smacked the heel of her palm against her forehead and resisted the urge to jab her friend in the ribs for a third time. Harry looked between the two of them as if they were insane, his head snapping to look from one to the other. The future? He must have been caught in some kind of twisted dream that he hadn't yet woken from. Who on earth would believe any such nonsense if they were awake?
> 
> "Right," he said slowly. "And I'm-"
> 
> "The Boy Who Lived, The Chosen One, Dumbledore's Man Through and Through," the brunette jumped in, rolling her eyes as she listed off each name that had been associated with Harry through the years. "Spare us the details, okay? We've heard them plenty of times growing up, trust me."
> 
> Harry frowned heavily and opened his mouth to ask one of the hundred questions floating around in his mind before his thoughts were distracted by the thumping noises that came from down the hall. Already he could hear growling someone might associate with an angry bear that had been woken from its winter slumber drawing closer to his room. In a mad dash to keep the girls hidden from whomever was storming toward him Harry quickly pushed them into the wardrobe that he had once thrust Dobby into all those years before, praying that they would get the hint to keep themselves silent while he dealt with the hurricane that was sure to come his way. He managed to slam the door shut just as the bedroom door was thrown wide, his Aunt standing there with bloodshot eyes and flared nostrils, green goop clinging to the skin of her face. Harry couldn't help but cringe when he saw her, mentally thinking that if the mask was supposed to help with her "beauty sleep," she might want to reconsider using it.
> 
> "Have you any idea what time it is?!" she bellowed. "It's two in the bloody morning!"
> 
> "I'm sorry," Harry said quickly, his mind frantically searching for an excuse. "I was just-"
> 
> "SHUT UP AND GO BACK TO BED!"
> 
> Without another word the old bat slammed the door behind her and left him to stand there motionlessly until he was absolutely certain that she had returned to her own room. As soon as he heard the sound of the closing door, Harry hurried back to the wardrobe. After being squished rather uncomfortably inside the tiny space, the two tumbled out onto the floor as soon as the door had been pulled aside, looking rather like they had when first they had come crashing into his room and woken him that night. It was evident that the blonde girl, Kyra, was full of the information that Harry wanted and seemed more than willing to share it with him. He could literally see that she was bursting to tell him all that he wanted it know, it was written all across her face and in those bright eyes of hers. But the brunette, whose name he did not yet know, was rather determined to keep her chatty friend in check before she spilled the beans on why they were actually there.
> 
> "Alright, spill," he ordered, trying to keep his voice quieter so as not to draw any more attention from his aunt. "Who are you? What are you doing here and where did you come from?"
> 
> Standing upright, the brunette brushed herself off and initially avoided any sort of eye contact with him. Annoyance flared within him when she took her time in answering. "Depends on the day. If we've landed where I think we have, the Order should be coming to get you in about two days, right?"
> 
> Harry blinked at her. There was no possible way for her to know such information, something that only he and the various members of the Order were sure to know. But what she was saying made no sense to him either since the plan, as far as he knew, was for him to leave Privet Drive with only Mad-Eye Moody. And yet the way this girl spoke, it was as if the entire Order was supposed to be coming to his doorstep in two days time, which made Harry just a little more nervous of being around her. If what she said was true, then she knew far more about things than he did, which was infuriating to someone who had spent almost his entire summer without any kind of communication from the wizarding world.
> 
> "Yes, Moody said he was coming at midnight on the day I turn seventeen."
> 
> Kyra walked slowly to her friend's shoulder and dropped her voice. "Des, we're still underage. We won't be able to use magic while we're here."
> 
> At this the brunette rolled her eyes a little and turned her head to speak, using the same hushed tone. "We don't exist here, remember? We just can't use magic until Harry turns seventeen or things are going to get ugly really fast."
> 
> "That still doesn't answer my other questions," Harry interrupted, his green eyes darting between the two of them expectantly.
> 
> Rolling her eyes again, the brunette finally turned to face him completely, her hands on her hips in a stance that showed just a little bit of attitude being thrown in his direction. "My name is Destiny. We're here to make things right – and we  _are_  from the future."
> 
> The tiny smirk that appeared on her lips at that moment was really beginning to annoy him, and he was more than aware of the fact that she could see that. Scowling darkly he turned on his heel and dropped onto the bed once more, bouncing slightly on the mattress. Despite his early morning grogginess certain things were becoming clearer to him. With Destiny around, there was no possible way that he would be able to get anything out of Kyra, who still looked ready and willing to talk about what it was that had brought them to his bedroom no matter how absurd it was sure to sound to him. Even so, he couldn't help but sense that there was something in the girls that struck a chord of familiarity with him, especially the stubborn stare that he got from Destiny. Were she not merely a girl no older than himself, Harry might have been a little intimidated by the way she carried herself. As it was, she still managed to make him feel a little uncomfortable under the intensity of her gaze, though he could tell that she wasn't dangerous.
> 
> "Do you plan on giving me a serious answer, or are you going to play mind games until the sun comes up?"
> 
> Her smirk widened a little as she shifted her weight, a hip cocked slightly to the side. "That would all depend on how many more questions you plan on asking and how nice I feel."
> 
> Kyra's small giggle only made Harry frown further. "How far in the future do you supposedly come from?"
> 
> "Twenty-five years," she replied.
> 
> "Can you prove it?"
> 
> "Not likely. Not without revealing information you absolutely cannot know."
> 
> There were a thousand and one questions going through his mind at the moment, and it took Harry a moment to try and sort them all out. Kyra smiled brightly at him in encouragement, beckoning him to ask what she could see brewing behind his eyes. But Destiny's smirk was somewhere between challenging and patient, waiting for him to speak.
> 
> "Can you at least tell me who you are?" he asked her with a sigh, running a hand through his hair. This time, it was Kyra's voice that he heard speaking softly.
> 
> "We can only give you our first names. Anything more than that and I don't think you'd believe us."
> 
> Her comment sounded like she was trying to make a joke of the situation, but there was something in her words that made Harry a little uneasy. "Okay…if you're from the future and can't tell me anything about you, tell me something about me – who do I marry?"
> 
> Destiny bit her lip in consideration. "I can't give you a name."
> 
> "A description then?" he asked.
> 
> She ran her fingers through her hair, scratching a little at her scalp before she reached the end and once again folded her arms tightly over her chest. "You married an absolutely brilliant woman who graduated from Hogwarts and gained a position of power in the Ministry of Magic, which is no longer as corrupt as it is now. She's incredibly dedicated to her friends and family, loves you beyond anything else in this world, aside from your children, and is probably having a fit about the fact that two underage witches managed to go back in time without her notice."
> 
> The tone of voice that she used when describing the woman he would marry in the future was full of admiration, Harry noted, his heart giving a little bit of a leap in his chest. Ginny was someone to be admired, someone that he loved and knew to be dedicated to everyone around her, a trait commonly found in those who had been sorted into Gryffindor. And for Destiny to give him answers like that…well, perhaps there was some hope glimmering in the future for him after all.
> 
> "And my kids?"
> 
> Was he ready to hear this? He wasn't even seventeen yet, children were definitely not on the list of things he was prioritizing right now. After all, this was something that he would remember until the day that he married the woman of his dreams, and if they were wrong about his future...well, he didn't really know what to think about the whole thing.
> 
> "Two healthy boys," Destiny offered with a small smile. "Your eldest is getting ready to finish his seventh year in Gryffindor, while your youngest is a fifth year Ravenclaw. They're friends of mine," she added, her smile widening just a little bit. "We're pretty close."
> 
> "No daughters?"
> 
> Destiny shook her head slowly. "Nope. Just the two boys."
> 
> _Boys_ , he thought to himself. According to this girl who claimed to be from the future, he would have two boys to carry on his family name. The possibilities of the coming year were endless with such knowledge in his grasp, and yet the fear of what he was about to do was beginning to truly settle into the pit of his stomach. The very thought of children meant that he would actually survive whatever lay ahead, but also that now he was not only toying with his own life as he plunged head on into danger: the lives of his unborn sons were at risk as well now. How many lives would be affected by this? Was a single act all it really took to alter everything that these girls said they knew? If that was true, that meant that the future was never set in stone, that everything was fluid and in a constant state of change.
> 
> That meant that their presence alone could alter things for him, he thought as he glanced up at the two of them once more. Just by standing in the same room, by hearing the words that they allowed themselves to share, everything about his future could be changing without his knowledge.
> 
> And what of the things that they were not telling him? He couldn't even begin to guess at what they were hiding from him as they stood there in his bedroom, looking at him as if they were completely comfortable with him despite the way that he had been made to feel by others at various points in his life. There was no trace of fear or uncertainty in their eyes, no mistrust or anything of that immediate nature.
> 
> And truth be told, they were really starting to give him a headache.
> 
> "Why did you come back?" he asked them, bright green eyes darting between the pair. "How did you even get here?"
> 
> Kyra glanced carefully toward her brunette companion, speaking only after getting a small nod from Des. "Things have been changing in our time," she started slowly, shifting the weight between her feet. "History itself is suddenly being rewritten with alternative endings, people have stopped remembering certain things-"
> 
> "And people that we love are disappearing all together," Destiny finished, her arms tightening against her chest as her eyes narrowed a little. "Nobody knows what is going on and they haven't a bloody clue of how to fix it either. We came back to see if we can put it right."
> 
> "But the truth is, neither of us really knows where to begin," Kyra confessed, earning herself a bit of a look from Destiny. She shrugged in response. "We have to find a starting point and go from there."
> 
> Try as he might to follow their words, Harry's mind was too busy processing this new information for him to notice the strange look that was exchanged between the two girls. He glanced toward the window as he wondered about this strange future they claimed to come from - he began to wonder about the two children that he had not yet met. What were they like? Who did they look like, him or his wife? On that thought, who exactly was his wife? What was the future like? Had they stopped Voldemort for good? Was he even gone? How many of his friends were still alive? It seemed as if he had been handed far more questions than answers once again, something that was becoming rather familiar to him. And when you coupled this information about his uncertain future with the task that waited ahead for him, Harry couldn't help but feel a knot of anxiety begin to twist in the pit of his stomach.
> 
> "People are disappearing?"
> 
> Destiny nodded, closing her eyes for a moment to compose herself. "Yes," she responded slowly, her voice soft. "People are disappearing. And those who are left behind don't remember what really happened. They just-"
> 
> "Des…"
> 
> It was the gentle tone of Kyra's voice that made Destiny remember where she was, noticing now that she had begun to dig her fingernails into her arm. Inhaling deeply the young woman gave her head a little shake and straightened her spine, pushing aside the darker thoughts that had invaded her mind as she thought of the mess that they had left behind. There was no time for her to worry about it all now, there was too much at stake for a distraction. She had to maintain her composure and keep a clear head if she was to successfully carry out this mission and return home to her family. Especially since it was not just her life that was currently at risk.
> 
> "Sorry," she mumbled.
> 
> Harry shook his head a little bit. "No…it's okay. I think I understand."
> 
> But as his green eyes caught sight of the alarm clock that sat beside his bed, he couldn't help groaning a little. His aunt had been right when she had stormed angrily into his room - it was indeed two o'clock in the morning and his body was beginning to feel the ungodly hour as he slumped forward a little. His eyelids slowly began to droop, a hand raising to rub them a little before brushing against his cheek.
> 
> "It's late," he muttered to himself, muffling a yawn with the back of his hand.
> 
> The girls exchanged yet another look, both nodding to him. "Get some rest," Kyra offered. "You're going to need it."
> 
> "Can I trust you not to kill me in my sleep?"
> 
> For the first time that night, a soft laugh fell from Destiny's lips as she looked at where he was perched on the edge of the bed. "I promise, you will be safe with us."
> 
> After a moment to pause and note the smile that danced at the corners of her mouth, Harry moved himself back up the mattress and removed his glasses before he turned the lamp off, plunging the three of them into darkness. Neither girl spoke a word as they nodded silently to one another in silent understanding. Kyra reached around and produced a cloak from inside her back pocket before she curled up on the floor under its warmth. Destiny remained upright, moving only enough to lean her back against the wall and pull her wand from her own pocket to watch over the two of them as they slept. Should anyone dare to approach, she would be the first to know.
> 
> And from where she lay on the floor, Kyra smiled, silently pitying the idiot who crossed Destiny first.


	3. Escape Plan

> Most of the next two days were spent in hiding for both girls, who left the safety of the bedroom only when absolutely necessary so as to avoid any interaction with the Dursley’s. Only once, when the Dursley’s had gone out to the store together, did the girls dare to venture further downstairs and take a look around, curious to know about the way Harry had lived in the nearly sixteen years that he had been forced beneath their roof. When they heard the crunch of gravel in the driveway, they scurried back upstairs and whispered to each other about everything they’d seen, leaving Harry completely out of their conversation.
> 
> The two girls told Harry of Dedalus Diggle and Hestia Jones’ plan to come by the house and remove the Dursley’s from harm by taking them to an undisclosed location where they would be well protected for now. For all Harry knew, they could be removed to another country all-together. And while the move was being described as “for their own safety,” Harry couldn’t help but think that perhaps it was just a smoke screen they were using in order to protect _him_ more than anyone else. If Voldemort and his minions were to get hold of the Dursley’s, he did not doubt that his Uncle Vernon would attempt to give him up in order to see his own life spared. The only real use a muggle such as Uncle Vernon could have to someone like The Dark Lord was to serve as bait…to see if the great Harry Potter would dare give himself up for the family that hated him nearly as much as Voldemort did.
> 
> As the days wore on Harry found that everything the two girls did had him questioning their motives, wondering if what they had told him on that very first night was indeed the truth or not. Kyra still seemed to be more than happy to answer the questions that he had, always greeting him with a thankful smile when he brought up the food that he had taken from the kitchen to make sure the girls didn’t starve to death while they waited. Unfortunately for Harry, every opportunity to learn more was shut down quickly by a glance from Destiny, who wasn’t nearly as open to the idea of sharing information with him.
> 
> A glance at the clock told him that the time was drawing near for the Dursley’s to leave, which would mean that his own departure from Privet Drive was approaching. It was almost surreal, the thought that he would never again return to the home that had caused him so much misery for almost sixteen years. The few things that he had planned on taking with him where now packed away inside the knapsack that he had slung over his shoulder. The Marauder’s Map, the photo album of his parents and the shard of glass from the mirror that had once been a gift from his godfather all lay at the bottom, along with a spare change of clothes, a flashlight and a few other little trinkets he thought might be of use. His Firebolt would stay behind, as would all of the textbooks he had accumulated over the years. But Hedwig had been secured in her cage and placed on the fireplace mantle downstairs, hooting at him as he came into the living room and tossed the bag on the floor beneath her.
> 
> “I know you don’t like it much,” he said gently as he slipped his fingers into the cage and stroked her head. “I’ll let you out as soon as we get to the Burrow, alright? She cooed softly and brushed her head against his fingers in response. A small smile crossed Harry’s face. At least someone understood.
> 
> He could hear the tail end of a whispered conversation as the two girls joined him downstairs. Heturned just in time to see a glint of something around Destiny’s throat before she hurried to stuff it down the front of her shirt again. But it was then that he realized what they both carried something he hadn’t noticed they had before: as if out of thin air, both Kyra and Destiny carried broomsticks much like the one that he had purposely left upstairs. Seeing the questioning look in his eye, Destiny turned to him and opened her mouth as if to speak, only to be cut off by a voice that boomed loudly from the kitchen.
> 
> Uncle Vernon had changed his mind again.
> 
> “I’ve changed my mind,” he announced, moving through the kitchen door. “We’re not-“
> 
> His eyes came to rest on the figures of the two girls who stood behind his nephew, his face becoming purple in colour. It was almost as if time had frozen around them as they all watched Vernon Dursley, blue veins bulging from his forehead as if his body were straining to work without oxygen. In fact, it almost looked like the old man _had_ stopped breathing. Then his chest began to heave as he took several deep breaths, making him appear more like an angry bull with each passing second. His eyes grew menacingly wide as they flicked between the two girls who stood in his living room before his head snapped to the side and he rounded on Harry.
> 
> “WHO THE BLOODY HELL ARE THEY AND WHAT ARE THEY DOING IN MY HOUSE?! IF YOU’VE BEEN KEEPING BROADS IN YOUR ROOM-“
> 
> There was no time for Harry to respond to his Uncle’s overreaction before a streak of blonde flashed passed the corner of his eye and Kyra stormed past him to approach the Muggle who was nearly four times her size. She showed absolutely no fear as she reached out with a slender finger and jabbed him sharply in the chest.
> 
> “How dare you talk like that!” she hissed back at him, advancing a step with each poke she delivered. “You’re nothing more than a nasty old man who screams and yells until he gets what he wants. Well guess what? It doesn’t work for you in the future, and it sure won’t work for you now!”
> 
> Destiny, for her part, merely shoved the hand not holding her broom into the pocket of her jeans and stood there observing the verbal attack Harry’s Uncle was taking from her friend. She made no move to step forward and call Kyra off, nor did she speak to defend herself against his blatant accusations. She seemed neither bothered nor concerned with what might happen next. Vernon Dursley was, for once in his life, at a loss for words - he simply stood there with his mouth agape. It was only when Kyra turned her back in triumph that Vernon moved toward her and Destiny leapt between the two with her wand pointed at him.
> 
> “Not another step,” she warned in a quiet tone. “Or I might just turn you into a penguin.”
> 
> The old man glanced from the wand in her hand to the girl who gripped it before he finally looked to his nephew. Harry just stood there dumbfounded. He was surprised to see the aggression that Destiny had showed in defending her friend against his uncle. She held the larger, more intimidating man at bay with such ease; her eyes were locked on his chunky frame, never wavering once as she stood with the stillness of a statue. Though he had to admit, it was rather amusing to see that his Uncle was afraid of a girl who was so much smaller than he was.
> 
> “Don’t just stand there!” Vernon barked at Harry, sounding almost as terrified as he looked. “Call her off!”
> 
> Harry just shrugged. “Maybe you shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions.”
> 
> Both men stared each other down for several seconds before a knock on the door distracted them; Hestia and Dedalus had arrived. Kyra nodded to Destiny with a slightly panicked look before she drew her wand and rounded the corner to stand on the second step, hidden from sight by the wall. The brunette quickly turned back to Vernon, her voice a low whisper that could easily have been mistaken for a growl.
> 
> “Your entourage is here to take you and your family away. You’re going to go with them now, and I don’t want to hear a single complaint about it. Take your wife, your son and whatever you have packed, but go without a word. Got it?”
> 
> The old man took a minute to respond before he called back into the kitchen. “Petunia! Dudley! We’re leaving!”
> 
> \--          --          --          --          --          --          --          --          --          --          --          --          --          --          --          --          --         
> 
> As soon as the door had closed and the five of them were gone, both girls flopped onto the couch with exasperated sighs of relief. Destiny ran her fingers through her brown locks again as she looked up and did her best to avoid making eye contact with Harry, instead staring intently at the clock on top of the fireplace mantle. She knew that the day had only just begun for them, she knew what lay ahead when Harry did not. While he hadn’t questioned her about the broomsticks in their hands, he was likely to be burning with nervous anticipation. And she couldn’t blame him for that. He wanted answers that she could not give him, questions he probably wouldn’t have had the opportunity to ask if her plan had gone off as she had expected it would.
> 
> “Why do you look so tense?” Harry finally asked her, breaking the silence between them as his curiosity got the better of him.
> 
> She turned rather suddenly, her dark eyes a little wide. “Tense?” she asked, sitting upright with a straight back as she tried to regain her cool composure and throw him off. “Why would you think I’m tense?”
> 
> He rolled his eyes as he looked at her, hardly believing that that they still thought him to be so dense that he couldn’t see what was plainly in front of his face. “I’m not blind,” he muttered, turning away to focus on Hedwig instead. “You know something, I know you do. Why don’t you just tell me what it is?”
> 
> This was not a confrontation that Destiny wanted to deal with right now. Her shoulders slumped forward as she leaned her elbows against her knees, chewing a little on her lower lip nervously. It didn’t escape Harry’s notice either. All of a sudden she wasn’t someone who had journeyed back in time to try and save people she loved from disappearing - she was a teenaged girl who was scared at the prospect of what lay in wait. She was vulnerable, he realized. And what struck him as being even stranger was that he didn’t like to see her that way.
> 
> She pinched the bridge of her nose between her thumb and fore-finger, “I know things, I won’t lie about that. But right now I can’t share those things with you, Harry. Not yet.”
> 
> Frustrated, Harry turned sharply on the ball of his foot and strolled to the other side of the room and pressed his back against the farthest wall, putting as much distance between him and them without leaving the room itself. Both girls watched him go before they turned their eyes forward once again and leaned heavily into the back, as if they were already weighted down by something pressing on their minds. Destiny closed her eyes, pressing her forehead into the palm of her hand as Kyra looked down at her and pressed her lips tightly together.
> 
> “He won’t let us go anywhere if this keeps up,” she whispered.
> 
> “What else do you expect me to do?” Destiny asked, looking over at her friend as she did her best to keep her voice down. “We can’t tell him what we know, or we risk throwing things off entirely. All we can do is follow him and the others for as long as we can and hope that we’re able to stop our future from being changed.”
> 
> As much as she hated to admit it, there was only so much that she knew about the time that they had returned to. She didn’t know all of the details because her research time had been cut short, some of the facts becoming muddy she tried to read as many books as she could. They were already at a serious disadvantage and they hadn’t even truly begun yet. There were still a million hurdles for them to leap over. She gave her bag a small nudge with her foot; everything she had thought to bring with her had been packed into that little bag. What if she had forgotten something vital? What if, despite all of her planning and careful attention to detail, she had missed something that would get someone hurt or worse? Kyra’s father would never forgive her if something happened to his little girl.
> 
> She’d never forgive herself.
> 
> It was a sharp knock on the door that startled Destiny from her thoughts and reminded her of what she now needed to do. But with that came the realization that she would shortly find herself face to face with something she didn’t know if she was ready to handle yet. She bolted to her feet and stared at the front door, suddenly feeling her nerves begin to freeze her blood and her courage leave her. Even as Kyra moved from her side and approached the door to open it, she couldn’t help the nauseated feeling that gurgled in the pit of her stomach. Yet the voice in the back of her mind quickly gave her a kick, reminding her that she didn’t have time to lose her confidence with so much on the line. Better to get through the night and see what waited for her in the morning.
> 
> Pulling the door aside, Kyra raised her wand at the pair she saw standing before her, eyes narrowed slightly in mistrust. “State your names and your business here.”
> 
> “Don’t bother,” Destiny called to her, beckoning her friend away from the door with a wave of her hand. “It’s them. It’s alright.”
> 
> The two in the doorway had pulled their wands almost instantly though, and did not lower them even as Kyra stuffed her wand back into her pocket and turned to walk back into the room. It was only after a small nod from Harry, still leaning up against the far wall, that they slowly shuffled their way inside, but their eyes never once left the girls who moved to the fireplace where they could watch the procession of people file into the room. They couldn’t risk being outside for long; the muggles might peer through their blinds and catch a glimpse of the crowd that had gathered outside the Dursley’s home.
> 
> First came Nymphadora Tonks, who quickly crossed the room to greet Harry and show him the simple wedding band that now sat on her left hand. Her cheeks flushed brightly as she tried to fill him in on the details, apologizing that she hadn’t been able to invite him before Remus strolled to her side and managed to quiet her down, his own face tinged slightly with pink though he wore a small smile on his face. Kyra nudged Destiny and the pair exchanged a quiet grin as the couple walked away.
> 
> Next came Fred and George Weasley . They both grinned from ear to ear as they saw Harry, and then noticed the two girls who stood alone in the corner of the room. They exchanged a quick look and a nod, beginning to head in their direction before they were caught by their shirts by Arthur Weasley and Kingsley Shacklebolt, both of whom had seen the message pass silently between the twins and knew it could only mean trouble.
> 
> “I don’t think so,” Arthur told his boys, who immediately looked a little crestfallen.
> 
> Releasing the twins the two older men moved out of the way and headed for the overstuffed armchair in order to allow Ron, Hermione, Bill, and Fleur to make their way inside. Each sent Harry a silent greeting before catching sight of the girls and nodding uncertainly in their direction. The only response he offered was a shake of his head. There would be time when the night was over to explain what little he knew to Ron and Hermione, who were sure to have a lot of questions . Harry watched as Ron looked between the girls, pausing as if he too saw something familiar in each one, but eventually gave his head a small shake and went to lean against one of the walls that Aunt Petunia had worked so hard to keep white.
> 
> Hagrid entered the house just after Mudungus Fletcher, though the giant had a little bit of difficulty fitting himself into the tiny house that hadn’t been built for someone of his stature. He somehow managed to squeeze himself into the living room after closing the front door, bent over at the waist to prevent his head from bumping into the low ceiling. He greeted Harry warmly and moved to stand a little closer to him, not even noticing the two intruders that everyone else had noticed.
> 
> A smirk crossed Kyra’s lips as Mudungus flinched uncomfortably under the heavy glare that he was getting from Destiny, and supressed a laugh when she saw him scamper a little closer to Mad-Eye Moody, who had taken up a position on the other side of the fireplace mantle with his bags in hand.
> 
> Before either girl knew what was going on, they found themselves confronted by Remus Lupin, who took each one by the arm and moved rather quickly to a vacant corner of the room, ignoring their quiet protests against his aggressive hold. When he was satisfied that they were far enough away from the crowd, he nudged them both roughly so stand in front of him and pulled out his wand, frowning heavily upon them.
> 
> “Who are you and what are you doing here?” he demanded, keeping his voice down so as not to disturb the others. “Nobody outside of the Order knows about this meeting, so who told you?”
> 
> Kyra stared up at him, rubbing the spot on her arm that he had grabbed so tightly. “That’s quite the grip you’ve got, old man.”
> 
> “Don’t antagonize him, Kyra,” Destiny murmured, brushing a hand across her face to remove the stray hairs from her eyes. “It’s not his fault.”
> 
> The blonde grumbled under her breath, speaking inaudible words, but Remus was not in the mood to play any games and lifted his wand a little higher in a threatening manner. “I won’t ask you again.”
> 
> To try and pacify him, Destiny lifted both of her hands to show that she intended no harm. “We’re here to help,” she said slowly. “Tonight, your plan to get Harry to the safe place is going to be interrupted. There was a leak in the Ministry who told them the real date that you were going to be moving Harry, not the one that you wanted the Deatheaters to believe. They’re coming, Remus. And they want Harry.”
> 
> The werewolf grit his teeth a little, angry to hear such secret information passed onto him by a perfect stranger. He pointed his wand directly at Destiny now, solely focused on getting what he wanted out of her. “What do you want with him?”
> 
> “I won’t harm him,” responded the girl, careful to keep her eyes locked on him and not allow them to stray over to where Kyra stood.
> 
> “I have no reason to believe you,” stated Remus with a growl.
> 
> She nodded in understanding. “I realize that. And I realize that right now, you don’t know the first thing about me. But I know you, Remus. I know how guilty you feel because you’re the last of the Marauders alive, and you want to protect that boy just as much as I do for the sake of his father. Because every time you look at him, I know that you see James. You see Lily in his eyes, but you see James in every other part of him.”
> 
> For a moment the older man seemed to be lost inher words. His eyes dulled a little as she went on, the grip on his wand growing slack until it was no longer aimed at the middle of her chest. Turning slightly, Remus looked behind him at the group of people who had assembled in the hopes of moving Harry safely to a new location. Harry – the boy who looked so like Remus’ long lost friend. Save for his eyes, the boy was the spitting image of his father – someone he missed terribly even after all these years.
> 
> “He’s still here,” Destiny whispered, taking a small step forward. “James. He’s never left Harry. But I’m here to do what he can’t do, and that is protect him in the physical sense.”
> 
> Very slowly, the werewolf turned back to look down at the girl with a visibly softer gaze. “You really mean that, don’t you?” he asked, tilting his head a little in question.
> 
> She nodded, the touch of a smile showing in her lips.
> 
> The two stared at each other for a moment before she tore her gaze away from him and hurried forward to the others, Kyra on her heels. At their approach, the group turned around to face them with expressions that were mixed between distrust, anger and concern. Mad-Eye shot them a dark look and immediately stopped explaining the process of the plan as he looked toward Lupin with a growl, clearly displeased to see that Tonks had hurried back to his side and was speaking softly to him.
> 
> “Mad-Eye, we don’t have much time-“
> 
> “Who the devil are you?” he demanded.
> 
> To try and forgo the same scene she had just had with Lupin, Destiny turned to look at the crowd. “Look, I know that none of you know us, but we’re here to help.”
> 
> They muttered among themselves. “How do we know that we can trust you?” Hermione whispered, her eyes locked on Destiny.
> 
> “We don’t have time for this!” Kyra said hotly, looking around at every visible face. “Take the Polyjuice Potion, change your clothes and get to your assigned flight partner, damn it!”
> 
> A soft sigh fell from Destiny’s lips. “Once this is all over, you’ll have more of a reason to trust us. But if we don’t move quickly, we will lose any head start we might have had over the Deatheaters. The leak in the Ministry didn’t work. Please…Hermione…”
> 
> Hermione held her gaze for a few seconds, biting down on the corner of her lip before she hurried over to Mad-Eye and began muttering quietly to him. With a nod and a gruff sound that beckoned the others over to him, he resumed explaining who would be taking the Polyjuice Potion and who they would be with for the dangerous journey to their specific location. Everything was time sensitive; there was no room for error that night.
> 
> Moving a little further away, Kyra caught sight of Harry standing near the crowd and gently reached out to touch his arm. “They know what they’re doing,” she said softly. “You don’t need to worry about your friends. With seven versions of you in the sky the Deatheaters will have to spread themselves thin in order to try and capture the right one, which means they won’t be nearly as powerful as they would be together.”
> 
> “I still don’t like it,” he said stiffly, never once looking down at Kyra. “If any of them get hurt because of me-“
> 
> “How do you think Destiny feels?” she asked him, finally catching his attention as the both looked toward the brunette who had wandered back to the bag she had left sitting at the foot of the couch. “I wasn’t supposed to come with her, you know. She wanted to do this all on her own. But she’s my best friend, and I wouldn’t leave her to face any of this by herself, the same way your friends aren’t willing to leave you.”
> 
> She released him from her grasp and folded both of her arms across her chest, looking toward her friend with a softer gaze. “Neither of you may like it, but you’re going to have to accept it. Not even you can do this alone.”
> 
> She gave him no time to question her further, but he could feel that there was another meaning hidden within the words she chose. Instead Harry just watched as she moved across the room to join her friend once again and then cast his own gaze back toward the crowd that was now taking the Polyjuice Potion to transform into seven versions of himself. Having taken it once before in his life he couldn’t help but feel sorry for them when he remembered how unpleasant the experience had been.
> 
> “I don’t know that he trusts us yet, but you sure did a number to the poor guy.”
> 
> Destiny scoffed a little. “Which one?”
> 
> “Which one do you think?”
> 
> Destiny looked up as she swung her bag around to place her arms through the straps, her eyes focused on where Remus Lupin still stood with his wife. But she dropped her eyes almost as quickly. “He’s not our concern right now,” she said evenly, as if it didn’t really matter to her.
> 
> “Des-“
> 
> “Don’t,” she said sharply, giving Kyra a look that instantly warned of danger ahead. “We have other things to be worried about, alright? Just stick close to George tonight like you were told and everything will be fine.”
> 
> Kyra sighed, reaching down to collect her broomstick from where she had set it on the couch before she straightened back up again and cast her friend a questioning glance. “Do you really think we can do this?”
> 
> It took a moment, but as she adjusted her bag and gripped her own broomstick, Destiny looked up with a small smirk that was far more familiar for Kyra to see. “Don’t do anything stupid, alright?”
> 
> Her blonde companion couldn’t help but grin a little, giving her leader a wink and a quick salute before she set off toward the others, pulling her wand from her pocket once more. Destiny fiddled with the straps of her bag once more, mentally going over everything that she needed to watch for when they took to the air that night. Though she knew that Kyra was a capable young witch, she couldn’t help but worry that something might go wrong. One tiny slip, despite all of their careful planning, and it could ruin everything they had set out to do. They say that the road to hell is paved with good intentions, she reminded herself. And she was pretty damn sure that hell was just waiting for them to take off.


	4. Fight and Flight

> She mounted her broomstick and held her wand tightly in her right hand, eyes glancing to the left as she waited for Mad-Eye to signal to them all. The tension and nervousness she had felt earlier only grew as she stood there waiting, fully aware of the fact that the pending attack was not far off. Before leaving home, Destiny had studied from as many books as possible until she was able to recite dates and events from memory, finding even the smallest of details and storing it away in case it proved of to be of use to her later on. So why was she so apprehensive? Because already things were not going according to plan and she had been forced to meddle in far more of history than she would have liked. And until she discovered exactly what it was that had thrown her own time into a chaotic mess she knew that each step she took would have a direct impact upon something else further down the road. How could she not be nervous?
> 
> With the signal from Moody she pushed off hard from the ground and soared into the air above, leaning forward over the handle of her broomstick as the others all made themselves airborne in one way or another. Kyra immediately shot up to hover near Remus and George as they all began their flight, each heading the exact same way before they would be forced to split off and go for their specific Portkeys. Tonight she would follow Mad-Eye and the Mudungus version of “Harry” on their journey. She could see already that there would be an issue as his broomstick did not reach its desired altitude as quickly as the ones ridden by herself and the aging Auror.
> 
> Seeing that everyone was still fairly close together she looked about her calling to them in warning, “Wands at the ready! They’re coming!”
> 
> No sooner had the words escaped her lips when a burst of green light shot past her ear and forced her to lean heavily to the right, dragging her away from Moody and a little closer to the ground they had just left behind. But as she regained her balance and looked behind her, her face fell in horror as she spied nearly twenty masks closing in on their location, each masked figure throwing spells in the direction of someone who was protecting a copycat Harry. As predicted they split up so they could find the real Harry when they realized that there were seven of them in the air. The rewards for finding the right boy and bringing him back to The Dark Lord would be glorious. They would be renown amongst dark wizards everywhere. The Death Eaters descended upon everyone, fighting the Order members as they struggled to try and close distance between them and their quarry. They did not care about the Aurors and Order members standing in their way – in fact, some where hoping to kill as many of them as possible that night. But the real Harry was riding with Hagrid on that same old motorbike that had first brought him to Privet Drive. As she looked further to the right, she could see Harry trying to fight off every attack that came at them.
> 
> “Stupefy!”
> 
> Her spell hit one Deatheater square in the chest, sending him into a deadly spiral toward the earth below with none of his comrades moving to help him. They were all obsessed with the idea of earning the glory for themselves, proving their loyalty to Voldemort and his cause. It made her sick to think that they were so blinded by the prospect of personal honour that they did not even slow to help their fallen members; one less person to compete with for the final prize. It was clear what the ones chasing her now were thinking; after all, it only made sense that Harry Potter, the real Harry Potter, would travel that night with the best of the lot.
> 
> Alastor “Mad-Eye” Moody.
> 
> Suddenly a figure rose from the dense cover of cloud and fog below and joined the pursuit. It appeared that he needed no broomstick at all, for there was nothing but air to carry him forward as he leered at them with his white, noseless face. Mudungus caught sight of Voldemort raising his wand, seemingly floating on the very same air in which they flew, and panicked. He Disapparated at that very moment, vanishing with a loud cracking sound and leaving his broomstick to tumble down into the silvery, swirling depths below.
> 
> Voldemort’s upper lip curled into a snarl of rage when he realized that he had chosen to follow the wrong Potter; the real boy would never have left Mad-Eye to fend for himself in such a situation, even if he had been capable of Apparating. In an attempt to save the grizzled warlock from the blast she knew was coming, Destiny threw her body to the left and reached out to grab the collar of Moody’s coat, pulling the two of them down quickly until they were once again flying beneath the clouds. The spell shot above them and out of harm’s way, but she realized that Voldemort was not interested in pursuing them any longer. Instead, they had been deserted in favour of Hagrid and the real Harry, who was still fighting bravely in the distance.
> 
> \--          --          --          --          --          --          --          --          --          --          --          --          --          --         
> 
> There were Deatheaters coming at them from all sides - to Kyra greatly it felt like she could already feel their breath on her neck. Spell after vicious spell flew from her wand, stunning any idiot who dared to get close enough for her to reach. They were absolutely relentless in their assault; each of them drawing as near as they could when they saw yet another version of Harry Potter flying through the air on a broomstick. His skills in the sky were not exactly a secret. He had been the youngest Seeker in a century when he had played for his house Quidditch team back at Hogwarts, so why would someone with those kinds of skills use anything other than a broom to escape?
> 
> With grit teeth Kyra continued to fling her spells in all directions and wave her wand in order to block the ones that came for her. She could not block every spell that came toward her and she found herself dodging wildly to avoid them, especially the bright bursts of green light that flew her way. She wasn’t a fool. Even if she couldn’t cast a Killing Curse herself she knew what they were trying to do. All that the Deatheaters wanted was Harry. Anyone else was simply an object that impeded their efforts to get a hold of him.
> 
> But then she saw him, his hood flying off his face as he continued to advance. There was another Deatheater close by him as well, but the instant that Kyra saw Snape raise his wand her eyes flew toward George, who was too busy fighting yet another Deatheater to notice the danger he was in. Without a second thought she threw herself sideways and pushed him roughly, forcing the boy to temporarily abandon his own defences so that he could lean forward and regain his balance once more. But as she made contact with the Weasley, another flash of light soared past them and she grabbed at her side with an agonizing scream. Her hands instantly pulled away from her broomstick and flew to press against her side as she toppled over the edge and fell toward the ground below.
> 
> He had turned to yell at her and demand to know what she was doing, but all he could see was the rapid descent that her body was making as the distance between them grew. Calling her name George turned his broom into a dive, plunging through the dark clouds of the night and straining against the darkness. His arm jerked in his socket as he finally caught up to her and managed to grab hold of one flailing arm. Only when her limp body was secure in his grasp did he nudge his broom upwards again until he was able to get in close to Remus, who took only one look in his direction before he called out that they needed to hurry.
> 
> George dropped his shoulders, using his own body as a shield to protect the young girl from any further attack while Remus took up the solo position of defender. The battle continued for a few more moments before the Deatheaters seemed to disappear completely in favour of another target, leaving the duo to regain their course and head for their assigned Portkey. But as they flew George could feel moisture seeping into the leg of his jeans and looked down to see a dark, viscous liquid dripping from Kyra’s side. They needed to get help soon – otherwise he wasn’t sure Kyra would make it.
> 
> \--          --          --          --          --          --          --          --          --          --          --          --          --          --         
> 
> “Get to where you need to be!”
> 
> As Destiny jerked her broom sharply to the right she could hear Moody screaming for her to return to his side but she chose to ignore him. The blood was pounding loudly in her ears as she leaned heavily onto the handle of her broom, reaching a speed she didn’t think she had ever experienced before. The flashes of red and green grew brighter with every passing second, the battle between the real Harry and Voldemort continuing on now that he had somehow found the correct target. She didn’t know what had given him away but the Dark Lord showed no signs of relenting against his prey.
> 
> Another curse sparked from the end of Voldemort’s wand, but this one did not reach nearly as far as the others had before. This time it came into contact with something else that absorbed it before it could skirt close to either Harry or Hagrid. Having been released from her cage for the journey, Hedwig had placed herself in the way of the curse intended for her master and seized in mid-air with a short screech and plummeted downward.
> 
> _“Hedwig! NO!”_
> 
> Between the shock of seeing the death with her own eyes and the agony that rang in Harry’s voice as he called out to his fallen companion, Destiny felt the anger begin to bubble within her once more. Her task had not yet truly begun and already it had been marred with failure. To some people she might only have been an owl, a pet that was easily replaced by a quick trip down to Diagon Alley. But to someone like Harry who had spent so many years of his life alone and without a friend in whom to confide, Hedwig had been an irreplaceable part of himself. It was something that she understood all too well, for it was the very same bond that she shared with the pet that she had left behind in her own time.
> 
> And Voldemort had just killed her.
> 
> “Stupefy!”
> 
> The spell erupted from the end of her wand when she pointed it toward Voldemort, missing him by a few inches as the spell zoomed before his eyes. Though it had missed its mark entirely it had been exactly what she needed in order to distract the aerial predator, who turned to her with a snarl at her interference. In that moment Hagrid slammed his large hand down onto a button that sat in the middle of the motorbike, which launched itself forward with such force that even the half-giant who drove it seemed to struggle against the winds that now flew past. And that wasn’t the only thing that seemed to struggle.
> 
> Perhaps it was the damage that the bike had suffered in the fighting, perhaps it was the speed at which it accelerated, but the bike could not sustain itself for much longer. Destiny watched helplessly as pieces of the bike began to careen off and away from the main structure, disappearing into the darkness. But that darkness was not meant to last long, as a blinding flash of light erupted with such force she almost fell off of her broom in her effort to shield her eyes from the intensity of the blast.
> 
> Destiny tightened her grip on her broom and blinked rapidly, attempting to clear her now useless vision. Slowly dark smudges began to break through the wall of white that had fallen in front of her eyes and slowly began to morph into corporal figures. All at once the smaller of the two seemed to disappear entirely from sight while the larger one began to plummet toward the ground at an alarming rate. The sound of Harry’s shouts reached her ears as he called out to Hagrid, urging the giant to wake up before it was too late. As her sight returned she pushed her broom into a kamikaze dive that would take her closer to the falling motorbike in a vain effort to reach them in time.
> 
> The vibration came first. And than the terrible _whoomp_ of impact reached her.
> 
> Pulling sharply upward so as not to plough into the ground herself, Destiny leapt from her broom and hurried in the direction of the crash, running as fast as she could on legs she could no longer feel. As she reached them she dropped to her knees, seeing that while Hagrid was still unconscious from the battle in the sky it looked like Harry was fighting to keep the darkness at bay.
> 
> “Stay with me,” she murmured softly, taking his hand in her own and squeezing it tightly. “Stay with me, Harry!”
> 
> A voice called to them from a distance, the sound sharp as they demanded to know who had crash landed into their yard with such a deafening racket. Destiny looked up and squinted against the shadows to try and make out the figure that hurried toward them, knowing now that they must have crossed the boundaries of magic that had been set up to keep Harry safe as he approached the location of his Portkey. Voldemort was nowhere to be seen, and the man who ran to help them now was no one to be scared of.
> 
> “Mr. Tonks, over here!”


	5. Secrets and Suspicions

> His eyes slowly fluttered open as he struggled to bring everything around him back into focus. The last thing he remembered was the chaos that had surrounded them in the mid-air battle – a cacophony of spells and flashes of light whizzing through the air in search of targets. His head was already throbbing; a feeling that only worsened when he tried to lift his head to look for the soft voices that he could hear from where he lay. Although he could barely make out the sounds of conversation, he had no idea who the quiet voices belonged to. A hand lifted on to touch the painful spot on his head as he moaned gently. Had he hit it on something when they had landed? He couldn't remember.
> 
> The landing…Voldemort…
> 
> All at once Harry bolted upright, his eyes wide and his chest heaving. The memories of the night flooded back with a crystalline quality that set his heart racing as though he were still in the middle of it all. All of a sudden he was aware of another person in the room – he looked over to find Destiny staring back at him, her eyes wide in a surprise that matched his own. The shock faded as she huffed a small sigh of relief.
> 
> "Don't ever do that to me again," she muttered, a flicker of anger in her words.
> 
> Harry didn't understand her anger and continued to blink at her for a moment before he turned his head and slowly began to take in his surroundings. Absolutely nothing about this room was familiar to his eyes; from the man who leaned heavily against the mantle of the fireplace to the tiny silver hairbrush that had been put on the table only a short distance away. It was foreign, all of it, save for Hagrid who had somehow managed to squeeze himself into the house and the girl who sat at his side as though to reassure herself that he was indeed still there. Movement in the corner of his eye caught his attention and before he could even fully make out the figure approaching from the doorway he immediately grabbed for his wand.
> 
> But Destiny's quick fingers put an end to that. "It's alright! It's alright, this is Andromeda. She's Tonks's mum. And this is her father, Ted," she added, turning to look at the older man in the room. "They arranged to have the Portkey here for you and Hagrid to return to the Burrow, but we don't have much time before it leaves."
> 
> He watched as she pushed herself up off of the couch and moved around the table to stand before the Portkey, her gaze now locked on the magical object. She seemed so focused on what was about to happen, so in control of the situation and any feelings that she might have had about their near escape. Never once did she mention Voldemort, or why it was that she had left Mad-Eye's side in order to fly the distance and try to protect him. There were a great many things that he knew she wasn't telling him. Why else would she have worked so hard to keep her friend from saying anything? But as he continued to sit there contemplating the young woman across the table, Harry forgot any mention of the Portkey that had already started to glow and shake in preparation for its departure.
> 
> "HARRY!"
> 
> Realizing that she was reaching out for him Harry threw himself forward and wrapped his fingers around the handle of the brush just as the Portkey took off. It was a mode of transportation that wasn't nearly as uncomfortable as Apparation, where you felt like you were being sucked up a small tube at an accelerated speed, but it still wasn't his favourite way to travel. There was the familiar whoosh that began their journey, removing them from the Tonk's household as they started toward the Burrow. And within seconds they were there, each letting go of the Portkey as it took them to their destination. When they landed at the gate that marked the boundary of the Burrow however, both teenagers stumbled and fell to the ground, still reeling a bit from the journey. Destiny gave a dignified grumble,
> 
> "Damn, I hate Portkeys."
> 
> Rolling over onto his side, he quickly picked himself up off of the ground and reached out to offer Destiny a hand as well, which she took regain her feet as well. But the instant she saw the lights of the Burrow blazing in the distance she bolted through the gate and raced toward the kitchen door. Harry called to her only once before he raced along behind her, trying to make up the distance he had already lost. His legs were no match for her own however, and before Harry could reach out to stop her she had placed her hand against the knob of the kitchen door and pushed it open.
> 
> Inside was Mrs. Weasley. Her head spun from where she sat at the kitchen table as a complete stranger forced her way into the Weasley family home. Molly instantly rose to her feet with her wand in hand. Without a word ropes appeared from the end of Molly's wand and wrapped themselves tightly around Destiny until the girl was rendered completely immobile.
> 
> "Oww!" she cried, trying to turn her head away from the abrasive rubbing that she could feel pressing into her skin. She struggled for only a moment more before she turned her eyes toward Molly, glaring slightly in her direction. "Let me go! I'm not going to hurt you!"
> 
> The ropes had extended to her lips and wrapped themselves tightly around her face before she could say anything else, leaving her with no other option but to fight futilely against her bonds. Molly was in no hurry to release her. It was only when Harry stepped forward with arms defensively placed in front of him that her attention shifted, watching as he slowly positioned his body to protect her own.
> 
> "Wait!" he said, looking nervously at the older woman and a frightened look in her eye. "It's okay! She's with me! She helped us get away from...erm…the Deatheaters when they attacked. Her name is Destiny," Harry told her, casting a small sideways glance back at the immobile girl. "She's a friend…from school."
> 
> Destiny blinked at his lie. Though she knew that the two of them had never once set foot on the grounds of Hogwarts at the same time, she was astounded by the fact that he would mislead the maternal figure in his life for a girl who was still a relative stranger to him. Perhaps he was beginning to believe that she was there to help him even though she had not been forthcoming with her information on the future. It probably still sounded a little looney to him anyway…and yet there he was, shielding her from any potential harm that Molly Weasley could cause.
> 
> If only she knew…
> 
> "It's okay," he repeated slowly. "You can let her go."
> 
> The mistrust was still clear in the aging witch's eyes as she turned her head to look at Harry; the son that she had adopted into her already massive brood of children without a second thought all those years ago. So much had changed in these last seven years that Molly barely saw the young boy he had once been standing alone and unsure at the train station with no idea of how to get onto the platform. Now he was a young man hunted by the most evil force in their world. But he was a young man who moved out to meet this danger with none of that hesitation he had shown at King's Cross Station that day. In this instance perhaps she should trust his judgment of the girl who stood bound in her kitchen. For a moment more she debated her options. Then with a flick of her wrist the bonds were removed and the young woman stumbled free, flashing Harry a grateful smile as she rubbed at her face.
> 
> "Ginny! You remember Destiny, right? From school?"
> 
> Destiny's head snapped upward to look at the newest arrival in the kitchen, spotting the rather stunned look on the face of the red-head who just walked into the conversation. She blinked at them all in confusion at Harry's question and turned her gaze to stare at the girl. A moment of silence filled the kitchen as she looked back and forth between Harry and Destiny.
> 
> But then her mouth began to move. "Oh! Destiny, I didn't realize…what are you doing here?"
> 
> "You wouldn't believe me if I told you," Destiny told her quickly without skipping a beat. "When are the others supposed to get back?"
> 
> Again Ginny blinked at her, giving her head a small shake for a moment before she realized what was being asked of her. "W-well, Harry and Hagrid just made it back right?" she asked, consulting the watch on her wrist. "Everyone else missed their Portkey, but George and Remus should be next-"
> 
> "Kyra."
> 
> Harry turned his head just in time to catch sight of Destiny's retreating form as she bolted from the kitchen and hurried back across the lawns. He immediately moved to follow her, zooming past a rather confused Hagrid on the way as they dashed back toward the pond and the boundary beyond the magical barricades. There was no loud crack from the Apparation to let them know of their arrival, only a simple call for help as two figures walked forward, dragging a limp body between them. Fear tightened her throat as she continued to run forward, only to stop short upon seeing that the body did not belong to George, but to her best friend who now hung suspended between them both him and Lupin.
> 
> Panic coursed through her. Instinctively her legs made to take a step forward though she was quickly cut off when Harry hurried up to the group and helped to adjust the way in which they held onto Kyra, taking the weight of her legs. With his help they were able to make their way back to the Burrow and into the den, laying her broken body on the couch. As her mind struggled to catch up, Destiny's body seemed to operate on autopilot as she blinked again and found herself pressed close to the couch, looking anxiously down at Kyra.
> 
> They were quickly followed by both Molly and Ginny as they came to see what was going on, the former immediately moving toward the couch as she spotted the blood that had stained Kyra's shirt. Destiny's face began to pale as she was gently nudged aside, watching as her friend's face remained impassable, her eyes closed, and for all the world looking like she was no longer with them. If it weren't for the strained, heavy breathing, there would be no way of telling that the blonde wasn't already dead. Even George bore a look that did not hold out much hope for the outcome as he hovered behind the back of the couch and watched his mother work.
> 
> "She pushed me out of the way," he murmured to Destiny. "Took the curse herself…"
> 
> A bitter laugh escaped the young woman's lips. "I told her not to do anything stupid," she growled, her eyes locked on the motionless form of her friend. "She wasn't even supposed to be here, but she followed me anyway."
> 
> Her ears picked up the hushed, low voices in the kitchen, signalling the arrival of more people who had managed to make it back to the Burrow in one piece. First it was Kingsley and Hermione who wandered into the room, and Hermione immediately hurried over to Harry to grip his hand tightly in her own as she cast him a worried look. Then Arthur and Fred appeared, both of whom shifted more toward the couch to join in the silent vigil that the other twin had already begun. No one said a word, and hardly anyone dared to breathe while they watched Mrs. Weasley work. Even as Molly's magic knit the skin together, large scars wound their way along Kyra's side. The future, to her anyway, had already proven that anything hexed off by dark magic could not be replaced, and so she knew that Kyra would forever have to carry that mark around with her, something that was sure to bother the girl later on. She was by no means vain, Destiny knew, but this permanent disfigurement would do nothing to help Kyra's self-esteem, and would probably force her to change her entire wardrobe once they returned home.
> 
> Not that her father was likely to argue.
> 
> "Mum?" Ron asked, sliding into a vacant spot close to his friends as he and Tonks joined the ever growing mass of people who stood in the den of the Burrow. "Is she going to be alright?"
> 
> Molly Weasley shook her head for a moment, slowly rising to her feet as she once more pocketed her wand. "She will live. But I can only do so much," older witch confessed. "She'll likely carry these scars for the rest of her life."
> 
> Silence filled the room while Destiny slowly moved forward, gripping one of Kyra's small, cold hands in her own. She rubbed her friend's hand absently, partly trying to bring a little warmth back, and partly to convince herself she was really still there. She tried to focus on her breathing and not on what had just happened. She was too close to loosing it, and if she could keep her mind busy maybe she'd be able to hold it together until she was alone. She didn't want to share her worry and her grief with these people. Not yet. Most of the time she didn't even share things like that with her very best friends. With conscious effort, she forced her face into a cold, neutral look, caring little if the other judged her on her sudden aloofness. Either way, she didn't particularly care about what thoughts were running through their minds, not yet anyway. In time perhaps their opinions of her would hold some ground, when they came to know one another better. For now, however, she couldn't allow herself to focus on them.
> 
> "Mad-Eye is dead."
> 
> Destiny's head immediately snapped around to stare wide eyed at Bill Weasley as he pushed his way into the room, his fiancé held tightly in his arms. All at once the room seemed to erupt in fury as each person immediately started forward to speak to Bill, unsure that they had heard him correctly. But it wasn't possible, Destiny reminded herself. She had sent Mad-Eye flying off toward his Portkey so that she could fly across the distance and hurry to Harry's side. He'd even hollered at her to get back and stick to the plan…ignoring the fact that she had never actually been counted among their number when the plan had originally been pieced together. She had thought that her interference had been enough to spare the old man from the death she knew had been waiting for him.
> 
> "What happened?" Arthur demanded.
> 
> Bill gave his head a shake, looking around the room sternly. "You-Know-Who," he began with a dark growl. "After he lost track of Harry they went after him in a rage and tracked him down less than a mile from his Portkey. Between  _Him_  and the Deatheaters, Mad-Eye didn't stand a chance."
> 
> "I'll bet you anything he went down fighting," came a raspy voice.
> 
> Destiny nearly jumped out of her skin when she looked down to see Kyra's eyes fluttering open, her hand giving a reassuring squeeze to her best friend as she continued to kneel by her side. The blonde groaned in pain and shifted against the rough material of the couch, wincing a little at the throbbing that quickly flared in her side. Her free hand immediately moved to apply a little pressure but was removed rather swiftly when she felt it grow worse at her touch. But already she had felt the difference, knowing that the dips in her skin were now a permanent part of herself that she would have to deal with in time. It was only when she felt the movement of a stray lock of hair at her forehead that she forced herself to focus again, grey eyes coming to rest on the frightened look that Destiny still wore.
> 
> "If you ever scare me like that again I'm sending you straight home," chastised the brunette, unable to hide the hint of anger in her tone. "Do you understand me?"
> 
> A mischievous curve appeared in the corner of Kyra's lips. "Threaten all you want, but you're not getting rid of me that easily, hun."
> 
> The smile only died when she shifted her gaze and noticed Fred and George looming overhead. A small tilt of her head allowed her to better see the room, now full of people who looked at the pair with mixed feelings of anger and concern. And as she scanned through their faces, her eyes came to rest on someone whom she hadn't seen in a number of years. As her memories came flooding back to her she stiffened on the couch, a feeling that her best friend instantly picked up on. Destiny looked back and asked Molly if perhaps there was somewhere else for Kyra to lie down, knowing that the conversation to come would only stress her friend out further. George jumped in immediately, offering to take Kyra upstairs so that she could rest in the comfort of his own bedroom, a way of thanking her for the sacrifice she had made on his behalf. Fred nodded firmly in agreement and watched as his twin brother rounded the couch and gingerly took her fragile form into his arms. The silence continued for only a moment more as the sea of people parted to let George through the den and to the base of the stairs, which he mounted with ease despite the additional weight of Kyra's body.
> 
> The instant they had vanished from sight, however, the questioning began.
> 
> "Who are you, and what are you doing here?" Remus angrily demanded.
> 
> "How is it you know of tonight's operations?" asked Kingsley.
> 
> Bill jumped in as well. "What happened when you left Mad-Eye?"
> 
> Standing herself upright again, Destiny took a slow breath and began to speak with a calmness that was otherwise absent from the room. "My name is Destiny," she said evenly. "And that's really all I can tell you about myself. I came here to prevent certain things from happening that would destroy the families that I know and love. I knew what was happening because, well…it's a part of the past."
> 
> She pressed on. "I'm not asking you to believe me. I'm sorry that Mad-Eye is dead. I thought he was safe when I left him, honestly. But where I'm from…he's considered a war hero."
> 
> Lupin blinked at her. "So what are you saying? That you're from the future?"
> 
> "Yes, I am," she said, boldly retaining her eye contact with the werewolf. "And against the wishes of many people from my time, including Hermione, I came back to find out who is messing with the time line and perhaps fix it myself. The only person who supported the decision of someone making the journey was Harry…though I have to wonder if perhaps he knew what I was planning all along. Hell," she added, throwing her arms up into the air. "I nearly managed to convince Draco Malfoy-"
> 
> She didn't get any further before the name caused an eruption of chaos, with more questions and demands behind thrown at her so quickly that she wasn't able to recover in time and answer any of them. The glares became harsher, and even Harry wrinkled his nose in distaste. The tension in the room mounted so suddenly that Destiny took a small step backward as her eyes darted about. Her heartbeat began to pick up as she became overwhelmed, watching as Arthur and Tonks joined the fray that Lupin, Bill and Kingsley had started. Her lips parted to speak, anxiously searching for the correct words that might help her to explain the whole mess.
> 
> "ENOUGH!"
> 
> But the voice was not her own, though it brought about such an abrupt silence that all eyes turned to the speaker who glowered darkly behind the couch. It was unusual to see anything but a grin upon his face, and yet here was Fred Weasley with his nails digging into the fabric of the couch as his hands quivered in anger.
> 
> "What are you lot playing at?" he demanded as he looked from one end of the room to the other. "I've been in the same room as her for the last ten minutes and I probably have a better clue of what's going on than the rest of you do! Her best friend nearly died saving my brother from a curse. She took out a number of Deatheaters who were trying to get at all of you to figure out which one was guarding the real Harry. And now you're standing here demanding that she justify the fact that she knew?"
> 
> Shaking his head in disgust, the lanky Weasley stepped out from around the back of the couch and crossed the distance of the den in a few steps. An arm wrapped itself protectively around Destiny's shoulders as he started to steer her out of the middle of the room, pausing for only a moment to turn around and look directly at the remaining members of his family.
> 
> "George is alive and well because of them," he reminded them quietly. "You shouldn't be anything but grateful."
> 
> He gave no room for argument before he lead Destiny toward the kitchen door, brushing his shoulder against Bill when he remained rooted to the spot and refused to move out of the way. Arthur called for his son to stop and return to the den, but Fred refused to listen. Instead he avoided further eye contact and opened the door that lead outside, taking them both in the direction of the garden that Molly Weasley took so much pride in. For her part Destiny, though surprised to see Fred become so protective of her, knew that it was wisest to remain silent and allow him to direct them for the time being. She wasn't anxious to return to the den anytime soon, but she was certain that Fred would have some of his own questions for her when he finally calmed himself down. All she would do now was hope that he didn't start asking any of the wrong questions.


	6. The Future Comes Knocking

> "Fred?"
> 
> The way in which he basically pinned her against his side was beginning to hurt a little as the entered the gardens, a far more tranquil setting than the one they had just left behind in the den. It was only when they had wandered away from the house that the tension in his arm disappeared and Destiny was free to distance herself from him, pulling her shoulders back a little to stretch out the muscles in her chest that had temporarily been squished in his hold. His posture seemed to slump forward a little as he let her go, a sign of his exhaustion from everything that had happened. She couldn't really blame him; he'd been pretty strong from beginning to end and now he was growing tired. After all, he had managed to escape the hands of the Deatheaters and then put himself in a position of openly standing against a good portion of the Order. She doubted that had been an easy task given how many members of his family were now involved.
> 
> Fred did not immediately speak to her, but instead plopped himself down on the small garden bench that Mrs. Weasley had installed beside the rosebush and motioned for her to take the space beside him. The brunette hesitated for a moment before she allowed herself to perch on the very edge with her weight sitting forward on her feet in case he chose to press her for answers the way that the others had inside. But it was the soft smile that lit up his face that began to take away her apprehension, though only just enough to make her feel as though he was not the immediate danger she was so worried about. Nevertheless, Destiny had the feeling that his rescue of her wasn't without cost and she could see in his eyes that there were a number of questions he wished to ask – questions she probably wouldn't answer. Not because she didn't want to, mind you, but because she knew that she couldn't.
> 
> "Do you plan on tell-"
> 
> "Look," Destiny began, cutting him off quickly. "I appreciate what you did in there, you need to understand that I probably shouldn't even be talking to you right now. The more we meddle in the past, the more we affect our future, and I don't know what kind of consequences this conversation could have."
> 
> She swallowed hard as she took in the look of curiosity he gave her. This had all become so much harder than she had expected it to be. She knew so much, but could say so little. Every move had to be carefully calculated and there was only one person who could really help her with it. And she was barely conscious at this point. But even as he looked at her, Fred could tell that she was a lot tougher than she looked. He could see it in the depths of her eyes despite the darkness that surrounded them. Yet he found himself wondering what it as that she was holding onto, what secrets she clung to with such force that she was willing to put her own life on the line in order to come back to another time and set things to rights. And even then, what had happened that would cause her to make such a dangerous decision.
> 
> "Can you tell me anything?" he asked quietly. "To prove that you come from the future?"
> 
> At this, the girl smirked lightly. "Frederick Arthur Weasley, born on the first of April and the younger of the twins, though most people don't know it. You caused quite a bit of trouble in your seventh year at Hogwarts for a woman named Umbridge, you never graduated and you're still seeing Angelina Johnson. When you can, that is."
> 
> The expression on his face went from curious to dumb founded in a matter of seconds, causing a soft laugh to fall past her lips for the first time since her arrival. That probably hadn't been the kind of proof that he had been expecting when he asked, but it certainly appeared to have done the job. Nobody aside from George was aware of the fact that Fred was still quietly seeing Angelina, the girl that he had grown to love since asking her to the Yule Ball in their sixth year. Despite her initial misgivings, the girl had agreed to go with him and they had been rather smitten with one another ever since. But of course, it wouldn't do for people to think that Fred had gone soft, nor Angelina for that matter. She had quite the reputation for being stubborn and sometimes harsh when it came to Quidditch; an image that she did not intend to change so that people could see her with a practical jokester. And thus had the two kept their love a secret.
> 
> "How-?"
> 
> "You'd be amazed at the things your brother has told me about you."
> 
> Fred scowled. "George?"
> 
> "Don't be upset with him," she told him gently. "He'd never betray your secrets on purpose. I went to him before I left to ask for something that might help in a situation like this. George remembered that he was still teasing you about it now, so he thought it was the best piece of information to give me that might get you to trust me. Not that you really need to, I guess."
> 
> "What do you mean?"
> 
> A soft sigh passed her lips. "I won't be staying for too long. If Kyra isn't well enough to travel before the wedding then she'll stay here until I can come and get her to return home. If all goes as I think it should, I'll only see you once more…in this time at least."
> 
> "What do you think of those two?"
> 
> Everyone else had already left or gone off to bed, the only ones who remained awake and talking in the den were Harry, Ron and Hermione. The fire had begun to die in the hearth as they discussed the events of the past few hours without the interruptions of the other adults, knowing that it was finally safe for them to speak without being overheard. Hermione's mind was still working on accepting in the information that had been revealed to them in the den when Destiny had made her rather bold claim of being from the future. And somehow she was unable to shake the feeling that both girls were eerily familiar to her in some way. They seemed to be roughly the same age as the trio, though she knew for certain that they were not current students of Hogwarts as Harry had claimed they were in order to appease Mrs. Weasley. He'd already disclosed the details of their rather abrupt arrival: a heap of tangled limbs laying on his bedroom floor at some ungodly hour of the morning. Yet she couldn't shake the feeling of ease she had when they were around, and the internal conflict was making her uncomfortable.
> 
> Ron, on the other hand, seemed to have almost the opposite feelings about them. Despite the fact that Kyra had willingly taken a curse in place of his elder brother and endangered her life in the process, he was rather adamant that they could not trust her or her brunette companion. With the way that the Deatheaters were running around in the open there was absolutely no way for them to know what allegiance the girls really had unless they were put through some kind of magical test. Unfortunately he had no idea of what they could do. The Deatheaters would more certainly torture them for answers, but after Mad-Eye's pretender had put them all under an Unforgivable Curse in fourth year he knew he could never do that to anyone else. And it wasn't like they had a secret stash of Vertiserum anywhere.
> 
> Only Harry was absolutely certain that they were telling the truth, unable to come up with any other logical reason for them to stick their necks out like that.
> 
> "What we think doesn't really matter," he told his friends, emerald eyes reflecting the faint light of the flames that was fading fast in the hearth. "We leave in a few days. If they try to follow us then we'll have to do something about it. Until then, we don't say anything. I get this uneasy feeling that they're in just as much danger as we are."
> 
> "The entire world is in danger," Hermione stated, always the voice of reason. "But that doesn't prove or disprove their story…even if they know some of ours." She shifted uneasily from her place on the carpet, rubbing her arms with her hands as she drew her knees to her chest and cast a rather anxious glance at Harry. "What if-"
> 
> "No," he rounded quickly. "They're not coming with us."
> 
> "I second that," voiced Ron. "I don't trust them."
> 
> "You of all people should trust them. Kyra saved George," Harry pointed out. "I can't imagine what would happen if Fred was to lose George."
> 
> "She never said-"
> 
> "She didn't say a lot of things."
> 
> Leaning back against the couch, Ron folded his arms tightly over his chest and continued to grumble inaudibly to himself. If there was one thing he hated more than spiders, it was when Harry and Hermione both agreed on something and left him on his own without either of their support. Of course, this meant that they never needed to be concerned with a tie vote, as there was always an odd number, but lately it had begun to really irritate him. They were worried, he understood that, really he did. His entire family was at risk for helping Harry and being members of the Order, and that didn't even include the dangers that came from being named a "blood traitor" family. Ginny was set to return to Hogwarts in September, and though he wanted her to be completely ignorant of their mission he didn't want her returning to the castle either. Hogwarts wasn't safe anymore, not with Dumbledore dead. But what other options did they have? Keeping her at home would alert someone with power, someone like Lucius Malfoy who harboured a deep loathing for the Weasleys and would give quite a bit to see them fall completely.
> 
> The three of them fell into silence, each lost in their own thoughts as they pieced together what was to happen within the next few days. Now that they had successfully removed Harry from Privet Drive and he was safe at the Burrow they knew that Molly Weasley's mind would be completely taken up with the wedding of her eldest son, which was to take place only a short while from then. There would be no room for error or second guessing themselves. This was something they had signed on for almost immediately, knowing that with Dumbledore dead they were likely to be the only ones who were aware of the fact that the Horcruxes even existed. If they had a shot in hell of stopping Voldemort they needed to find those magical objects and destroy them, hopefully before too many more lives were lost.
> 
> A sudden crash came from the kitchen of the Burrow, a flash of light shining through the cracks in the doorway. All three of them bolted to their feet with wands drawn in self defense.
> 
> "What the bloody hell was that?" demanded Ron.
> 
> From behind the closed door they could hear a cacophony of noise. Footsteps pounded against the kitchen floor, coupled with the sharp scrape of the table as it was pushed from its place. A groan sounded as pots were knocked unceremoniously from their place and rattled loudly against every surface that they hit on their way down. An exasperated scream echoed loudly through the den.
> 
> More footsteps approached, this time from behind. George appeared at the bottom of the staircase with Kyra clinging tightly to his arm to keep herself steady. From somewhere behind them came Fred and Destiny, both of whom had drawn their wands in response to the rather sudden noise that had caught their attention out in the garden.
> 
> "I KNOW YOU'RE HERE!" shrieked the voice from the kitchen. "YOU BLOODY WELL BETTER COME OUT NOW!"
> 
> In that instant Destiny dropped her defensive stance and muttered a curse under her breath, pressing the heel of her open palm against her forehead. Kyra moaned in fear. Both recognized the voice.
> 
> "Oh, we are so busted," the blonde complained.


End file.
